The Awakening in Ankara

Prof. Faruk SenThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.As a result of the pressure from the non-governmental organizations in Europe, and also since the Turkish press’s European correspondents have been keeping track of the issue, the Ankara government has taken action in order to give voting rights to the Turkish citizens that live abroad.

Considering the fact that there are 6,500,000 Turkish citizens living abroad, a number equal to 8% of the Turkish population have been denied their right to vote. In this regard, 4,200,000 emigrants of Turkish origin, who are the biggest political lobby living within the borders of the European Union, want the privilege of voting and have thrown their weight behind the measure. 2,440,000 Turkish citizens who are over 18 and therefore hold elector status, will have the right to vote in the elections that most probably will take place in November. This number is 25 thousand more than the number of electors from İzmir. Accordingly, when the European Union member states are considered as a new electoral district, 25 new parliamentarians from the European Union member states should join the Turkish parliament.

AWAKENING IN THE PARTIES The first party claiming to be the major proponent of the issue in Turkey has been DYP (True Path Party) and following its lead, the other two parties in the parliament, AKP (Unblemished Party) and CHP (Republican People’s Party) started to look into the matter. The assistant of the CHP (Republican People’s Party) of the present time, Onur Öymen, who took a negative attitude to the same subject during his ambassadorship in Bonn, was given the assignment to pioneer the subject. With luck, there will not be any setbacks or reversed forsaken decisions from the parties, and people will flock to the polls in Europe, as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan suggested.

According to the compilations of The Center for Turkish Studies (TAM), if 3 poll places are installed in each of the 26 general consulates within the borders of the European Union, 2,440,000 people can vote very comfortably from Thursday to Sunday during the election week. Thus, the European Turks, that assume the duties of sending foreign assets and forming political lobbies, will have a voice in the elections also in Turkey for the first time. Subsequently, parties will not ever be able to state “we look after the European Turks!” by running any Turkish citizen from Europe as a candidate from their parties to show off self-indulgently. Instead of that, they will have to make specific additions to their election platforms suitable to the wishes of the European Turks. In this way, the people, who have had their money snatched by Islamic Holdings or wasted by the laborer enterprises for many years, will have the right to question the Turkish politicians by means of the politicians coming from among themselves.

In reference to this, 8 newspapers publishing in Germany, and also 7 national European orientated transmitting television channels have made big contributions. The foremost has been Hürriyet Journal, the medium which in Europe has exposed how unreal the allegations, that had all along been put forward by the parties, like “the European governments do not allow the installation of polls...” are.

In the next coming months, politicians like Devlet Bahçeli, Mehmet Ağar, and Tayyip Erdoğan will be seen more often in Europe. Another importance of this occasion is that the guest politicians will have the chance to meet with the party leaders and the leaders of the countries that they will visit. Consequently, Mehmet Ağar, Devlet Bahçeli and Deniz Baykal, who have not had so many opportunities to meet with the foreign leaders up to now, will be going to Europe more. After compiling results from future research, in coming articles I will detail which parties have collected the greatest voter support, in the case of the European Turks who cast their votes. At last, parties are appearing on the field of combat for brave men. Party leaders will join the European arena together with their teams. If the election were held this Sunday, which political party would you vote for?